Recently, along with development of digital technologies, various user devices capable of processing communication and personal information, such as a mobile communication terminal, a personal digital assistant (PDA), an electronic organizer, a smartphone, and a tablet personal computer (PC), and the like are being introduced. The user devices do not remain in their unique areas, and are reaching a mobile convergence phase which covers the areas of other terminals. For example, the user device may have various functions such as a calling function such as a voice call and a video call, a message transmission and reception function such as a short message service (SMS)/multimedia message service (MMS) and an e-mail, a navigation function, a photographing function, a broadcast play function, a media (video and music) play function, an Internet function, a messenger function, and a social network service (SNS) function.
Recently, as compression technologies for media content such as a video file and a music file has been developed, the size of the media content gradually becomes smaller, and many media content can be stored in a memory used in the user device. Furthermore, as the media content is widely distributed, the number of users who listen to and view media content in the user device is on the increase. The user may control the volume of media content according to the surrounding environment while listening to and viewing the media content. For example, the user may add or decrease the volume by operating a hardware-type button or a software-type button which has been set for volume control while playing media content.
Furthermore, the volume control in the user device is a function of adjusting the sound of the user device, and the volume is adjusted according to the set volume control zone (e.g., 0 to 10, 0 to 15, etc.). Furthermore, the volume turn-off (volume=“0”) section (e.g., a section where the volume value is set to “0” in response to the user input) in the volume control section represents a section where the sound of the played media content is not outputted through a speaker. The user may frequently need to decrease the sound by the maximum amount (e.g., volume=“0”) if necessary (e.g., when there is a need for a conversation with another person) while the user views or listens to media content by playing the media content.
Generally, if the user sets the volume of the played media content to zero, such situation may mean that the user may do something else rather than viewing/listening to the media content. However, in this case, since the user has not explicitly inputted the play-related function of the media content (e.g., a pause, play, stop, etc.), the play of the media content is continually performed even if sound is not outputted. Hence, even in the situation where the user does not view/listen to media content, unnecessary battery consumption due to the continuous play operation may occur, and when media content is received and played from the exterior (e.g., the play of the streaming), unnecessary data fees may be charged. Furthermore, when the user attempts to listen to or view the media content again after temporarily adjusting the volume to zero to cope with another situation, it is difficult to check how much the user has viewed or listened to, and the media content need to be inconveniently returned back to the previous viewing/listening time point.